Your complaint has no grounds. Beam Sabres are no more or less realistic than your 40 foot beam lance. Just a giant handle....

I really can't enjoy one indestructible mobile suit fire a beam larger than it's body at a battlefield covered by enemy mobile suits. That's not action or excitement, that's meaningless and mindless violence... Someone taking the concept way too far. Take "rap" for example. The beatnicks got away with it just fine until the urban crowd threw in senseless "vulgarities", if you get what I'm trying to say. UC vs. AU is a similar case, if you see what I'm saying.

A little note, some of UC weapon are quite unique too. Beam scythe is seen in V Gundam use by Abigor. (They can even combine into single double-edge scythe.) Beam fan is common weapon for Zanscare's MS. And while I'm not sure if it's use in anime, some of SRW game and G Generation give V Gundam a triple beam saber with a long pole.
Another serie with lot of unique weapon is Crossbone Gundam. Quavarze's beam cutter (which should be call "beam throwing disc" IMO), Abijo's needle gun and Totouga's fast hardening gas are very unique.(even more than most UC in case of Totouga's) Crossbone Gundam also has several of them, like screw whip or aniti-beam beam cloak.

The problem with the AU MS designs is not their relative realism or unrealism. The problem is that almost all of the MS's for the AU series have been designed by Kunio Okawara, who needs to retire in a BIG way.

Okawara sucks. He has never been great. He was the first, and has always been the most prolific, mecha designer. However, he is so far over the hill its not even funny. Has anyone here seen the new designs for Gundam Seed Destiny? They're atrocious!

Hajime Katoki designed the main Gundams (and most of the other MSs) in:
V Gundam, Gundam 0083, Gundam Sentinel, Gundam Wing Endless Waltz

Kazumi Fujita designed the main Gundams (and most of the other MSs) in:
Zeta Gundam

Mika Akitaka designed the main Gundams (and most of the other MSs) in:
Gundam ZZ

Every time a new Gundam series is announced, I dread seeing Okawara's new designs. They get worse and worse all the time. He is so creatively bankrupt now that he actually rips off HIMSELF. I mean for God's sake, the Freedom Gundam is just the Gundam XX with the serial numbers filed off!

Yeah, I have to agree. I think he's due some respect for his work in the 70's and 80's but his recent designs just aren't good.

Studio Sunrise overreacted to the response to Turn A Gundam. The designs were quite different from traditional MS designs and a good number of fans were turned off by them. Studio Sunrise said, "Whoa! Back to classic designs." And... and... Gundam Seed was a commercial success. I'm not trying to knock Seed designs. I liked a number of them. But after Turn A's lack of success and Seed's great success, it looks like Studio Sunrise is going to "play it safe" for a while.

Yeah...IMO, Okawara's best MS design is when he done F90-era MS. Whole line of Old Mobile Army's MS and all of F90's variant...Those are ultra cool. Now look at new MS from SEED Destiny...combine that with Zeta-wannabe-story...and I expect nothing good from this serie...

I agree... but for the fact that Im not convinced Okawara himself actually did the Oldsmobile MSs nor the Silouhette Formula F90/F91 variants.

Okawara has a whole slew of assistants -- "Studio Okawara" basically. I detect a subtle but palpable stylistic difference between the MSs of Oldsmobile & Silouhette Formula and those of, say, the F91 movie and G-Gundam. I am pretty sure that those cooler Okawara designs (Oldsmobile & Silouhette Formula) were done by Okawara's assistants. However, I am having a devil of a time finding documentation of this, and Im also finding it difficult to acquire the names of these assistants...

Kuruni wrote:Yeah...IMO, Okawara's best MS design is when he done F90-era MS. Whole line of Old Mobile Army's MS and all of F90's variant...Those are ultra cool. Now look at new MS from SEED Destiny...combine that with Zeta-wannabe-story...and I expect nothing good from this serie...